Darkness
by Sprklz03
Summary: Kidnapping. Missing Social worker. Lack of light. Jim Kirk has found himself with a lack of sight, on a bed, with a woman tied to the headboard.
1. Chapter 1

It was dark. Completely dark. She couldn't see an inch in front of her face. Fuck that she couldn't see her own nose. Marie huffed out a sigh, sniffing back the tears that threatened to form again. Crying was no use right now. The rope around her wrists was rubbing raw from all the tugging. She couldn't figure how long she had been there. Tears would solve none of these things.

Marie Watson was a social worker, working on a special assignment with Starfleet. They had been contracted to help contact Nishu, a developing planet who had expressed interest in joining the Federation. She and a group of Starfleet officers had traveled to the sector, landing on the planet to enter into talks. They had been there for three days, and Marie had been in one of the local markets when she was attacked from behind.

The Nishu were a humanoid like species, but covered in scales like a snake. Their large eyes took up almost half of their face and what they failed to tell the Federation was that their eyes allowed them to see in darkness. Hence why she could hear the door to the room open and close whenever they had come in instead of seeing it. She wasn't sure why she was nabbed, her captors weren't telling her. But after hours in the dark, tied to a bed, with no move to harm her, she could only figure that they wanted her for some sort of ransom.

The door opened one more time, but there was something different this time. The Nishu were made to work in the dark, including behind quiet. So the struggle she heard, male grunting and scuffing shoes, drew her attention more than she could say.

"Fuck off. Let go." The voice said, only to cough as he was presumably thrown onto the ground.

 _Earlier that Morning;_ USS Enterprise.

Jim smirked around at his bridge crew; only the best for the _Enterprise_. The purple planet that was outside the view screen was slightly lighter than the darkness surrounding them. They had been summoned to Nishu in order to pick up some people in order to take them to Starbase 17 on the other side of the quadrant. He knew he should know more about whom they were escorting but he really didn't care. Spock cared; that was enough.

He glanced at his first officer who was watching the planet with his head cocked to one side. It seemed to be bothering Spock just as much as it was bothering Jim that the planet wouldn't let them simply transport down to meet the people. Nishu was transport capable, but they didn't use it often according to Uhra. It left them one option; take a shuttle down.

"It's fine Spock. It's not like we haven't taken a shuttle down to a planet before." He said, standing from his chair and moving to stand beside his first officer.

"The last time did not end so well." Spock said and if he ever chose to show emotion he would be disapproving. Jim laughed humorlessly at the reminder of that damn Volcano and shrugged.

"Well, maybe we should stick to the Prime Directive completely this time." He heard Uhra huff indignantly and smiled. They still didn't talk about Spock almost dying. They had been out in the black for a year and the topics of Spock choosing to die and Kirk actually dying were still issues of which Uhra couldn't speak. "It's just a pick up mission. We should be fine. Let's get going." He said, slapping the Vulcan on the back. He was going down with Cupcake in order to pick up the team while Spock watched the shipped; apparently the Nishu also wanted to meet the infamous Captain Kirk.

Apparently when you save Earth twice you become infamous. He didn't mind so much; it was kind of cool to have females flock to him even more. Jim met Cupcake in the shuttle bay as Sulu left the cockpit.

"Rawls will do fine sir." Sulu said, glancing over his shoulder at the second string pilot. There was a storm on the planet that they had to fly through, but he wanted Sulu ready to go as soon as they were back on board.

"Keep her running." Jim said. Sulu smiled and nodded as he walked passed. "Come on Cupcake... it'll be fun." Kirk watched as his Chief of Security rolled his eyes. They were on good terms after the Narada incident and all, but Jim still called him the silly nick name from that bar in Iowa.

"Fun. Yeah. That is what you said about the last mission." Jim laughed at Cupcake's snide tone.

"Come on, you got laid what was the problem?" He asked.

"She had teeth." Was the replying, causing Jim to laugh again. Jason, Cupcake's real name, had received a substantial bite out of his arm on the last away mission. Bones had fixed everything but apparently he still wasn't happy about it.

The flight down the planet was no big deal, the turbulence from the storm the only thing giving them a little trouble. Kirk stepped off the shuttle glancing around at the group of of people with Starfleet badges surrounded by three in uniform. Four of them looked very tense as they stood huddled together. The officer saluted as he approached and he nodded at them muttering "at ease".

"Captain. We seem to have a problem." Jim felt Cupcake tense slightly next to him.

"What problem is that...?" Damn he really should have paid more attention to the briefing.

"Lieutenant Olsen sir." Jim nodded and gestured for him to continue. "There seems to be a member of the team missing. She hasn't been seen since last night."

"Where was the last place she was seen?" He asked, Captain mode kicking in. Olsen motioned outside and Jim went to follow, feeling Cupcake follow him. They had barely stepped out the door into the street, which was darker than Jim expected for noon planet time, when the first shot rang out. Jim reached for his phaser, only to realize he had left it on the ship.

Jim reacted on instinct and shoved Jason back through the door as return fire came from somewhere. Something struck him across the face hard enough to snap his head to the side but not to disorient him. He felt the shadow blow past him as he came back to focus. The shadow, which was really a Nishu, ran back in front of him, moving faster in the dark than was easy to see. As he attempted to find where the Nishu went he was attacked from behind, an arm strapped around his throat.

The Nishu were also apparently stronger than humans he found as he scratched at the arm in vain. He was startin to see spots when something slammed into his stomach hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Jim had a deja vu as he pushed onto his hands and knees, a strong pinch to the joint of his neck and shoulder and he blacked out.

When he came to, the weird clicking of the Nishu native language surround him. He was being jostled and when he tried to fight back, he found his wrists tied. What the hell was going on? Where was Jason? He tried to shift his hips to see if his communicator was still in pocket but he couldn't tell. He yanked his knees up and felt the Nishu holding his legs dig their nails in. He hissed as he heard something woosh; heard because he was just coming to realize how dark it was. He couldn't see anything, just what he was feeling. He tried to thrash again and felt the grips tighten again.

"Fuck off. Let go." He was able to snarl out before they unceremoniously dropped him on the floor, and he huffed again as the wind was yanked from his lungs. He wasn't sure if he expected it to be less dark where ever they dropped him, but it wasn't. He coughed sitting up slightly and his ears caught rustle of a mattress. Jim's senses were high alert as strained to see anything in the darkness.

"Hello?" His head snapped to the right, assuming that is where the bed was. "Is someone else here?" He heard the quiver in her voice; she was scared.

"Yeah." He answered, still not fully in his own breath. "Who are you?" He demanded, struggling to his feet. At least they had the decency to tie his wrists together in front of him.

"Marie. Marie Watson." Said the disembodied voice. He took a ginger step forward, feeling his knee come into contact with a wooden frame. "Who are you?" She asked quietly.

"Captain James T. Kirk, _USS Enterprise_." Not that his designation was going to help anything right now. For all he knew they took him because he was the Captain.

"You have a ship here?" She asked, hope flooding his ears.

"Yes. It's in orbit." He answered, sitting down and feeling her leg fall against his backside. He shifted slightly so he wasn't almost sitting on her. "How did you happen to get here Marie?" He asked, hoping that she wasn't a Nishu in this darkness.

"I was here with Starfleet trying to negotiate contact. I'm not sure why the Nishu requested Social Services, but they did. I was grabbed out of the street last night, at least I think it was last night." So here was his missing social worker. At least he had that going in the plus column. "I don't know what they want with me. I know they speak standard but they aren't speaking to me." She said and he heard the sheets move.

"Where are you from?" He asked, hoping she couldn't tell that he was digging for information. There could be any number of reasons this woman was here the most disturbing of which was that she could be working with the Nishu who took them.

"Seattle." She said quietly. "Can I ask a weird question?" His head snapped, hopefully in her direction and his eyebrow raised.

"Yes."

"Are your fingers accessible?" If they could see, Marie probably would have laughed at the shocked look on his face. Well, she had given him fair warning of a weird question.

"Um... yes?" Normally when a women asked him that he would have some sort of charming cocky response having to do with losing items of clothing. In the current situation, he was on high alert and didn't have time to flirt. He rolled his eyes. If she was flirting right now because of who he was he was kick his way out of this dark hell whole.

"Oh great. Do you think you could figure out a way to untie me?" Well that wasn't what he was expecting. She was tied up too. Her voice also didn't seem to be moving. "My hands are tied to the head board and my shoulders are starting to ache, and my nose itches of course." He huffed out a laugh and the very blatant eye roll that accompanied that statement. "Captain?" Her question made him realize how quiet he had been.

"You can call me Jim." He said.

"Ok. Um, Jim, do you think it's possible for you to try?" His attention pulled back to the voice on the bed. He was reasonably sure that he could figure out how to untie a knot even if it was in the dark. His hand slide out along the bedding coming to rest against what he assumed was her leg.

"This you?" He asked.

"Yeah." She said, and he felt her leg twitch under his hand. He nodded, realizing late that she couldn't see it.

"Ok. I am going to just follow... um, this up." He said awkwardly. He had never touched a woman like this, trialing his hand up her side with so many clothes on. "Sorry." He muttered with a smirk as she jumped when he tickled her.

"It's ok." She said, and it sounded like her head was turned away from him. He apologized again as his hand traced the outside of her breast, meeting her harm at her shoulder. He couldn't help but notice how cold she was, and she didn't seem to have a lot of clothes on.

"Um, what are you wearing?" He asked, hoping it didn't sound like a cheesy pick up line. Marie laughed and he felt her hair move against his hand as her head turned.

"A tank top. It was warmer in the market when they took me." Jim was relieved to feel smooth skin under his hand instead of snake scales but he didn't say that out loud. His fingers had found the rope; her hands were tied together directly over her head and then attached to a metal bar headboard from the feel of the hard cold columns under his fingers.

"Got there. Give me a second." Finding the knot wasn't difficult. Finding which piece was looped under the other was slightly more of a challenge, but he got there. The issue was the amount of torque he could get with his own hands tied.

"I really appreciate this. I can try and get you untied after." She suggested and he couldn't help but smiling in the general direction of her head.

"Deal." The angle at which he was bent was starting to cramp his obliques, but he didn't want to let go of the rope and have to try and find it again. "I think I might need to shift." He said.

"Whatever you need." Came the reply. He took a quick assessment and, keeping his hands tightly on the rope, he stood and slide a leg over the top of the bed until it came into contact with Marie's side. He then proceeded to straddle her waist, careful to keep his weight on his own knees instead of her stomach. "Oh, ok." She said, and Jim felt her body press down into the bed. He smirked again.

"Sorry. Better angle." She hmmed in the affirmative and he felt her hair shift over her fingers again.

With the new angle, his fingers could get the proper grasp on the rope. These Nishu knew how to tie a knot, but eventually he got it loose enough to start pulling out one end. He did so slowly because he didn't want it to come flying out and whip either of them in the face.

"So Marie, um... why did you agree to come here?" He asked, trying to make small talk that wasn't awkward as the situation was already awkward enough.

"I can't remember at the moment, but I'm sure it wasn't worth it." She muttered making him laugh. He felt her body tense and she pressed her body further into the mattress.

"You ok down there?" He asked, squeezing slightly on her wrist as he was currently following the rope around it.

"Why do you ask?" Her voice floated up to him.

"You suddenly tensed up. You can relax." He said. He felt and heard her take a deep breath in, her ribs pressing slightly against his thighs. Before she could answer her left arm came free and she hissed before moaning. A small cry escaped her as her arm came down to rest on the outside of his right thigh. Without dropping the now much longer length of rope in his hands, he brought them down to rest against her shoulder, allowing his fingers to gently massage the joint. She huffed under, and a part of his mind remembered the last time he heard that noise there was a naked woman in his bed. But then, when you thought about it, pain and pleasure noises could be very similar with the exception of the blood curdling scream.

"Thank you." She said, breathless. "I don't know how long that has been in that position but it was too long." Hearing her statement, he followed the rope back up to her right hand and unwound the rope from there, repeating the massage on her right shoulder until such time as the blood was flowing better through her limbs.

He waited, feeling her deep breathing under him. Jim knew that when one sense was gone, the others would get stronger in order to compensate, he had just never experienced it before. He could hear the fabric of her shirt rubbing against the fabric of the blankets with every breath she took. He could smell her; she smelled like the Earth jasmine flower. He could sense every millimeter her ribs shifted with her breath, where they pressed against his inner thighs.

"Thank you." She muttered again and he heard her head shift. Suddenly she was sitting up, a tangible presence in front of him even though he couldn't see her. He shifted back on his knees until he was over her thighs and he felt her hands lightly touch his shoulders. "I can try and do this." She laughed slightly. He felt her employ the same means as he did, trailing her hands down his arms until they found his bound wrists.

"So, why were you so tense?" He asked as he felt her fingers probing the sensitive skin on the inside of his wrists. She tensed slightly, her hands pausing for split second in their search for the correct loop to pull.

"Oh, well..." She muttered, fingers probing again and finding the knot. "You sort of have a reputation Jim." She said. He didn't respond because he knew of which reputation she was speaking. Carol teased him about it all the time. So he had function genitalia, what was so wrong with that? Apparently it was the excessive use of said genitalia that was frowned upon. Suddenly the rope around his wrists fell free. Almost instantly, Marie's cold, slim fingers were massage his palms, pressing their way up into his forearms to encourage the blood flow; damn it felt good.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" He asked as her fingers threaded with his in order to roll his wrist slightly.

"Manicures. Best thing to relax." She said. As her hands pulled away, he caught the right one, grasping it and giving it a shake. She giggled slightly. "It's nice to meet you Captain Kirk." She said, the hint of a smile in her voice.

"I wish it were under better circumstances Ms. Watson." She giggled again before she slowly started to remove her legs from under his. He helped by shifting so he was no longer straddling her. Jim expected his eyes to have adjusted slightly but he was mistaken. He still literally saw nothing. He waved his hand in front of his face and the only thing that changed was he could feel the slight increase in the wind.

He felt Marie shifting around, could hear the fabric of her clothes rubbing against the fabric of the blankets beneath them.

"So how much do you know about this room?" He asked.

"There is a bed." She answer succinctly and he laughed. "Other than that, nothing." He leaned back on his hands, glad they were free now and felt the bed was much roomier than he thought, bigger than his back on the ship. He realized as he shifted position he was sore from the stupid neck pinch thing. "Did you want to lay down?" She asked quietly.

Laying down actually sound amazing. He shifted up toward her, coming to understand the bed was softer than he realized before too. The day was suddenly catching up to him and even though he had been kidnapped and he had no idea where he was, he felt safe enough to sleep. He could feel the soft warmth coming off his fellow victim, and the tense was back.

"Hey Jim?" She asked.

"Yeah Marie." He answered. It sounded as if she was still sitting up and he had fallen horizontal, head landing on a pillow that was calling his name.

"Can I trust you?" Was breathed out, causing him to frown.

"Trust me to what?"

"To not rape me in my sleep?" She asked quietly again. Ok, he wasn't tired anymore. He sat bolt upright, arm brushing hers slightly and causing her to jerk.

"What?" He demanded. The thought of rape had never crossed Jim's mind; ever in his entire life.

"Well, it's just that I am a woman and I am in a dark room that men have access to and I don't know them and..." He reached out, palm finding the skin of her forearm and he squeezed in what he hoped was a reassuring matter.

"I am not going to rape you." He said, and even though she didn't know him, she did relax. "I'm not going to hurt you at all."

"Thank you." Now Jim had been kneeling over and she wasn't a large woman. She was very small, and the voice with which she said that made him think of her almost as a little girl; you know with boobs. He wanted to protect her and she was obviously very scared. Then again so was he. Jim Kirk could fight his way out of most places, but if his enemy could see and he couldn't, he was at a complete disadvantage. He had to wait for Spock to figure it out.

"Get some sleep. I'm not going to let anything happen to you ok?" He asked, sliding his hand up to her shoulder. He felt her hair shake as she nodded before slipping down so she laid down, very reminiscent of her earlier position. His adrenaline had spiked again. He told her he wouldn't let anything happen to her, and he was going to keep that promise. Even if it meant staying awake the whole time they were here.


	2. Chapter 2

She opened her eyes and blinked rapidly for a few seconds before it all came back to her. She couldn't see. It was still darker than a black hole and... something was pressing against her back. She shifted her hips slightly and felt an arm tighten around her waist as a male groaned behind her. She bolted up right, a small screaming leaving her as she tried to put as much space between her and the erection that she had felt. Her rapid breathing started to slow as she remember Jim; Captain Jim of Starfleet's flag ship. Jim who wasn't going to rape her. It must just be the morning or something.

"Whoa, you ok?" He asked sleepily.

"Ye-yeah sorry." She stuttered out over her uneven breath.

"Oh shit. No I'm sorry. It's automatic." He explained and she heard and felt him slide to the other end of the bed.

"It's ok. Just a shock. I'm sorry." Marie heard a deep breath in through his nose somewhere to her right.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep. How long have you been up?" He asked.

"About thirty seconds." She said, allowing a smile to pull at her lips even though he couldn't see it.

"I really am sorry, come back over here it's cold." He said and she allowed herself to giggle slightly. Marie felt out with her hand skimming over the blanket until it hit the lump that was Jim's leg. She crawled back up to the head board and leaned back against it as Jim draped an arm over her shoulders pulling her against his side. Just then, a grumble ran through her stomach and she realized she really had to pee.

"Hungry?" He asked, and she could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Not that we could see what we were eating anyway." She said. "And I don't trust that." She felt Jim laugh slightly.

"Yeah. It's a little creepy that they can watch us and we can't see them."

"Right. I suddenly understand how animals in a zoo feel." That resulted in a very real, full laugh from Jim. Before the laugh could stop naturally, they heard the "whoosh" of a door and Marie felt a breeze blow through the once stagnant air. His arm tightened around her shoulders. Oddly, even though Jim Kirk had a reputation and they were both prone on a very large comfortable bed, his presences made her feel very safe, but she tensed anyway at the sound of three Nishu entering the room.

"Captain Kirk." One said, off to their right somewhere. "I am glad to ssssee you awake."

"What do you want?" Marie blinked, glancing over in the general direction of her companion. The laughing, easy going man who had been around just recently was replaced; Captain James Tiberius Kirk was next to her and she felt even safer at the realization. She was also planning on letting him deal with the situation assuming he was better trained for it. "Why are we here?" She allowed herself a small smile at her inclusion.

"You ssssee Captain, not every Nishu wantssss to join the Federation. We apologizzze to have taken you, but we have ssssseen no other choicccce." Marie shivered at the hiss that ended the sentence; they looked like walking snakes and sounded like them as well. "You are the lassst chanccccce bargaining chip; The Federation getssss you back in exchange for leaving ussss alone."

"You think the Federation is going to give up Nishu to get me back?" She heard the excited stepping of the other two Nishu who were still somewhere near where the door sounded to be.

"Yesss." The first answered. Marie felt Jim sigh, and deflate slightly.

"Have you contacted the Federation?" He demanded, voice not changing as he physically had.

"Not yet. But we wish you comfort while you are here." The Nishu was moving, back toward the other too. "There issss a recccepticle to exxxxpand wassste directly under you. Food will be delivered in amountssss able to consssume with your lack of ssssight." He was explaining as two small rectangular things hit the bed by their feet. "I hope that you are enjoying your gift Captain." Both Marie and Jim tensed at the last sentence.

"What gift?" Jim demanded.

"The female." She knew he heard her sharp intake of breath; she only felt it as she couldn't hear it over the increased beating of her heart. "It issss cussstomary for a guessst to reccceive a gift to entertain them during their sssstay."

"Entertain me?" Jim demanded, his fingers increasing the pressure on her shoulder.

"You already ssssseem to like her, and we hope that we found ssssomeone to your physsssical liking."

"Well I wouldn't really know that would I?" Jim sneered next to her. The blood rushing through her ears drowned everything else out as she came the realization of her reason for being there; she was a sex toy. They had grabbed a human in hopes that that human was up to Jim Kirk's standards (which were pretty easy to please if she could tell; female. Species; still female), so that he may entertain himself should he get bored.

Marie was pulled out of her thoughts by the rush of the a breeze from the door and Jim's hands attempting to cup her face.

"Marie?" She hmmed a question. "I am not going to hurt you." It wasn't until then that she realized she was shaking. She managed a nod before she was pulled against Jim's rather warm torso and his arms clasped around her tightly. Her arms linked around his back as she buried her face into the side of his neck; god she wished she could see. "Should anything happen it will be 100% consensual." She laughed slightly, the thought of sex the furthest thing from her mind. She barely knew what he looked like and he didn't know anything about her except that she was human, had skin and hair, a mouth, wrists, hands, and was wearing a tank top.

"Deal." She whispered. He pulled back slightly and breathed in deeply before her stomach growled again, causing them both to laugh. Jim reach toward the objects that had landed on the bed pressing what felt to be like an Earth snack bar into her hand.

"So, you were saying about a zoo?" He asked as he apparently removed the wrapper from his and took a bite. "They feed us, the watch us, they talk to us."

"They try and mate us." She added wryly, causing Jim to laugh.

"Sounds like a zoo." He said.

Later, and neither of them knew how much later, he and Marie were in a complete giggle fit.

"This is the worst thumb war ever." Her voice said, floating through the darkness. He laughed slightly as he felt her thumb brush passed his and he trapped it; again. "And not fair. Your fingers are longer than mine." She whined. He laughed again as she shivered.

"How long did you sleep?" He asked, tugging on her hand hard enough so that she fell off balance and landed against him. She squeaked in surprise.

"I'm sorry." She muttered. "I don't know how long I slept."

"Why don't we get some more sleep. I'll try and keep things down." He smirked, knowing she couldn't see it but couldn't help himself. She huffed out a laugh and he felt her slap his stomach, but she did start to move further down to be horizontal. He shifted down with her, keeping his arm around her shoulder. If she was next to him then they were both safe.

Having had to void bladders into what essentially sounded and felt like a pot was interesting and a little awkward, but he realized that he felt better if he could feel her. He couldn't shake the feeling that a Nishu was still in the room with them, but he hadn't heard anything. Marie's hair tickled over his shoulder as she snuggled against him without questioning his arm. He had removed his gold command shirt and had given it to her so that she wasn't so cold, and he felt her exhale on his neck.

"I'm glad your here Jim." She whispered. God he wished he could see her. Not that it really mattered; she was hot and he could tell from her being wrapped against him. But that wasn't the only reason he wanted to see her. There was a connection with this woman; know one else would know what it felt like to be completely trapped in your own body because your sight was removed from you, even though your eyes still worked fine. He felt her fall asleep, her breathing evening out against him as he laid there in the dark.

Knowing that they weren't in immediate danger had allowed him to relax slightly but he was still wondering when Spock was going to show up and get them out of here. Jim must have fallen asleep sitting up because the door woosh startled him awake so much that Maria jerked awake as well.

"Captain, if you will come with usss." Before he could actually answer, the scale covered hands were on him, yanking him off the bed. Without really thinking, he started to thrash against them, fighting back against whatever it was they were planning on doing.

"Jim?" Marie asked from the bed. They dragged him in to the hallway where there was a change in the darkness; it was a screen and Spock was on it.

"Spock." He said, squinting against the unfamiliar light attacking his retina's.

"Captain." He could hear the hubbub of the bridge but he still couldn't open his eyes.

"Commander. We demand that the Federation leave ussss alone. When you agree, you will get your Captain back." Jim yanked out of the Nishu's grip, face turned in the direction of the light.

"Spock, get us the hell out of here." He said just before the Nishu grabbed him again.

"We are not able to make decisions for the Federation. We are merely here to transport. If you have a problem with the Federation you should take it up with your government." Spock said and Jim practically growled in response.

"Spock diplomacy is not going help this situation." Jim sneered at his first officer, praying that the Vulcan would lie just this once. Before Spock could answer, there was a scream from the room. "MARIE!" He said, fighting against the grip again in order to get back to Marie to stop whatever was happening to her. He glanced back to see Spock watching from the screen; in the sudden chaos the Nishu apparently had forgotten to disconnect with the Enterprise.

He could hear the natural language of the Nishu, the strange hissing noise that sent a shiver up his spine. He could also hear Marie's thrashing, fabric scrapping against fabric and he launched out of the Nishu's grip once more. His knees collided with the bed and he felt the Nishu kneeling over Marie. Jim's fist swung out, colliding with a body he hoped wasn't Marie and he heard the grunt. He heard Marie's intake of breath as the other Nishu dragged the assaulter away.

"Marie!" He said, sliding up the bed until his hand found her wrist. A breath huffed out of her as he laid down next to her. "Hey, hey, it's ok." He said, wrapping an arm around her. She huffed out another breath, her chest jerking with the movement; something was wrong. "Marie?" He asked. She swallowed, her face pressing against his chest as one of his hands slide down her arm to find her other hand pressing against her stomach. "Oh god no." He muttered as he felt the blood slip over his hand.

 **AN- Barbara Fruhling- Thanks for following. And favorite-ing (not a word but who cares) along with dixieky, and Sherlock-Jim-Stole-the-Tardis (awesome name btw). This is not going to be a very long story, and it's almost finished, so I hope to have it complete for you soon! Let me know what you guys think!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I am placing this first to end the story cleanly. Thank you to XmissbananaX, hnd6995, DrAnime203, randomcassie8, kelam2002, and Lexi73 for following or favorit-ing. I decided to finish the story and post it today in memory of the amazingly talent, sweet, generous human that was Anton Yelchin. My friends knew him and loved him (everyone who knew him said nothing but amazing things about him). He was an amazing talent and Hollywood will sorely miss him! R.I.P. Anton.**

 **Sprklz03**

The light made him scream as it came flooding into the room, the Nishu hissing in pain as well.

"Captain?"

"Jim?"

"Bones." He said, he eyes squeezed shut. Marie had shrieked at the brightness too; two days in pure darkness had quite the effect on your eyes. "Bones, help her."

"Good god man." He heard Bones said as Jim's hand was shoved away. Jim tried opening his eyes, but yelled again at the pain. His crew was there. He breathed out a sigh of relief. Marie had been bleeding on him for the last two minutes but it felt like hours; but McCoy had her now so everything was going to be ok.

"Jim here." Uhra was there, slipping something onto his face and his eyes squinted open again. The sunglasses helped, but didn't fix the problem entirely. He blinked around, Uhra coming into focus for a split second before his head fell against her shoulder in relief.

Ever since he had found out that she was part of saving his life after the Kahn incident, their friendship had grown even further. He had no idea what he would do with out Nyota Uhra; he felt her smile against his ear, stroke the back of his neck once and pull away. That was it, it was all he needed to snap back in Captain mode and stand up.

He looked around at his crew efficiently rounding up the Nishu who didn't have something akin to sunglasses on.

"Captain." Jim turned, a smile pulling at his face. He had never been so happy to see his first officer. He still wished he would have lied. "We must get you back to the ship. We shall let the Nishu discipline their own." Spock said, gripping a hand on Jim's shoulder.

"Let's get the hell off this dark hole." He said, glancing at Urha as she came up next to him.

 _Three hours later_

"Where is she Bones?" Jim said, deadly quiet. His CMO was standing in front of him, telling him that Marie was not on board. That she never made it on board. He was assured she was alive, just not on his ship. The rest of her team was. He couldn't care less about the rest of her team.

"She is on the _U.S.S Titan_." He answered. "They are meeting us on Starbase 17 in three days."

"I don't give a damn about... why are we going to 17?" Jim asked, distracted. 3 days. 3 days more of the mystery.

"That is where we were taking the team Jim. Now it has turned into some Federation inquiry since you were taken." Jim huffed, debating asking Bones what she looked like, but he knew that Bones had only seen her wound, whatever it was.

"Is she ok?" He decided on, knowing Bones would read between the lines.

"It's hard to tell. It was close to the liver but I can't be sure." Jim glanced around the empty Med Bay and tried to relax. Three days wasn't that big of a deal, but it would be a lot easier if he knew if she was ok.

"You said the _U.S.S Titan_?" Bones nodded slightly in the affirmative as Jim turned and headed toward the Bridge.

Her eyes blinked open and then slammed close as she screamed. The scream apparently caused a flurry of activity around her and a lot of different people asking too many questions. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she noticed that there was no hissing and that calmed her extremely.

"It's ok Marie, relax." A woman said. Marie blinked her eyes open again to see some sort of medical bay.

"Where am I?" She asked. The last thing she remembered was an extreme pain in her abdomen after being molested by the scaly hands of Nishu. She briefly remembered Jim saying "oh no" but she couldn't be 100% certain.

" _The U.S.S Titan."_ My eyes snapped open and, ignoring the pain, she scanned the very Federation Faces around her.

" _Titan_?"She asked just for clarification. The nurse next to her nodded. She felt relief flood through her body, deflating as it lost its tension. If Ishe was on the _U.S.S. Titan_ that would mean...

"Hi M."

"Hi Nathan." She said, tears filling her eyes as her cousin Nathan Reynolds smiled back at her. He reached out, hand clasping hers tightly and shaking slightly. "You got us out?" Usually Nathan's team was an observation team, not a rescue one.

"No, that was the _Enterprise_ crew. I took you from Dr. McCoy because I felt better having you on my ship. That and I could tell Aunt Zoe that you were ok." She sighed, letting her eyes close slightly against the still painful brightness.

"Are we going home?" Nathan huffed out a small laugh and Marie's eyes cracked back open. It was weird to be able to actually see.

"No. Starfleet intervened and they are having a public hearing on Starbase 17. I am assuming they will want a testimony and then you will go back home with them." She nodded as best as she could. Starbase 17 was where the transport was supposed to have met them anyway, but if there was now a public hearing, that would mean Jim would be there; Marie had heard those eyes of his were something to behold, and wondered if they were as fabulous as legend said.

They reached 17 two and a half days later, but apparently the _Enterprise_ had been there for at least a day. The base wasn't overly large, but still large enough to have new people landing almost everyday. By the time they had landed, debarked and headed to the first food place Marie's nose could find, Nathan and she had already heard the story of the infamous Starfleet Captain looking for his mystery girl.

"He doesn't even know what she looks like. He is just waiting in the hearing rooms with a line of women outside." Marie had burned when the women in front of them were relaying the news. Apparently every woman was lined up waiting to try and trick Jim into thinking they were her. She was angry that people were trying to be her, she was angrier that they were using what she went through to meet Captain Hotpants, but she was also embarrassed that Jim couldn't wait until the hearing; Marie had felt that there was more to him than the womanzing man-whore rumors and reputation had created. Maybe she was wrong.

Jim sighed frustrated as he turned the corner the morning of the hearing. He knew that women would try and get them to think they were her, but he was slightly embarrassed by how many would want to meet him; slightly. Granted, after a full day of women in all shapes, sizes, ages, and species sauntered into the room and tried to make him believe they were her, none of them could answer the simple question.

It had been Uhra's idea; ask a question to which only Marie would know the answer. She jokingly called it the "Glass Slipper" question. Jim smiled as he passed the line of women already lined up to try and convince him they were in that room with him, granted he knew that Marie was going to be at the hearing in a matter of hours, but he couldn't get her out of his head. The way she smelled, the way she felt in his arms (he had hurriedly confirmed that the female covered in fur was not Marie the day before without having to ask the question), her laugh, the way her hair tickled his shoulder. All physical things, without ever having seen her physically.

"Damn man, I wish I could help you with these." Bones said as they stepped into the hearing room. A woman was already inside, sitting at the table and writing in a notebook. Her back was to them, and her dark brown hair was curled down her back. She glanced over at them as they walked in, green eyes vibrant against pale skin. A blush touched her cheeks as she looked back to the notebook.

Sometimes that happened and Jim liked it more than people assumed it did. Some women were too shy to speak to him; either because they found him too attractive or too intimidating. Only the annoyed ones believed he was too arrogant.

"Well Bones, you can take as many as you want." He said, leaning against the table and watching as a red head in a Blue Starfleet uniform came bouncing in.

"Hi Jim." She said too brightly for someone who had been kidnapped the week before. "I've missed you." The woman at the huffed out an indignant laughed, causing Jim to look over at her briefly before focusing back on the bubbly red head he was pretty sure wasn't Marie.

"Hi." He said, folding his arms across his chest. "What did we call where we were?" He asked. A pen fell onto the table but he locked blue eyes with blue eyes as he looked at this supposed Marie. This had been the reaction from everyone; hesitation, slight confusion and then wrong answer.

"Excuse me?" She asked, tucking a red curl behind her ear.

"The room we were in, we called it something as a joke. What was it?" Bones rolled his eyes. Besides the fact that every hot woman had flooded to them instead Jim and Bones chasing them, even Jim couldn't be angry with his CMO for being annoyed with most of them.

"Oh, hell." She said brightly. He sighed and shook his head.

"Wrong. It was nice meeting you." He said as Bones ushered a rather disgruntled looking woman out the door, returning with the next one who was the textbook definition of Jim's type. She essentially looked like a freaking super model, down to the designer heels she was wearing. He knew immediately she wasn't Marie. This blonde wouldn't be caught dead in just a tank top and jeans in a market place. He asked the question before she could say anything.

"What?" She asked, the slight confusion taking over.

"What did we call the room we were in?" He asked patiently.

"A zoo." He frowned slightly at the model in front of him, before he realized the woman at the table had spoken. Jim only made this connection because both the Model and Bones were starring over at her.

"What did you say?" He asked shoving off the table. She tucked a piece of brown hair away from her face, turning toward him and standing up.

"A zoo. We called it a zoo." She said, green eyes looking directly at him.

"Um excuse me, he was asking me." The model said but Jim was off the table and Marie was in his arms before he could figure out the muddled mess in his mind. This was her. He ignored her surprised squeak and buried his nose into her hair.

"It really is you." He whispered, feeling a shiver trace through her body. He pulled back, eyes scanning her face; it was heart shaped, with a dusting of freckles across her nose and cheek bones. Her nose was small and pointed and her eyes were sharp green under arched eyebrows. "Are you ok? Does it hurt? Someone took you before Bones could heal you. Did they..." rapid fire questions came out of his mouth without permission as Marie blinked at him.

His thumbs were tracing her cheeks but he wanted to pull her shirt up to make sure the stab wound was actually healed. He allowed his fingers to spread across her neck, her pulse beating reassuringly strong against the pads of his fingers. He could almost feel the blood coursing through her veins instead of out of her through a whole in her stomach.

"Jim breath, and let her breath too." Bones said, forcing Jim to let go of Marie. He didn't want to. Last time he let go she was stabbed.

"Sorry." She smiled slightly at him.

"It's ok. It's been a stressful week." She joked. "I am fine. All healed." She said.

"Marie." Everyone turned to look at the new Captain walking into the room. He was tall, as tall as Jim with dark brown hair and slanted blue eyes that reminded Jim slightly of a cat. They were a clear dark blue as they scanned Jim head to toe. Who was this guy?

"Nathan." She answered, reaching out and taking the iced latte from his hand. He whispered something to her that made her laugh slightly. "I am fine." She said, eyes looking back over to Jim. This Nathan dropped a kiss onto the top of her head and put his coffee down at the seat next to hers. She was already at the end of the table, so Nathan's coffee placement effectively cut off Jim sitting next to her.

"Captain Reynolds." Bones said.

"Jim this is Nathan Reynolds, he is the Captain of the _U.S.S. Titan_." Marie said. Nathan reached out a hand to shake Jim's with a firm grip; there was no messing with Nathan Reynolds is what it tried to portray. That handshake didn't know Jim Kirk very well. "My cousin." Marie said, swatting Nathan in the arm slightly.

Apparently Jim was rusty on handshake reading 101; it had really said 'don't mess with my family'. He was however relieved as the hearing committee came pouring through the door.

"You have quite a fan club out there Kirk." One of the admirals said.

"Oh, yeah. Should probably get rid of them. They're all liars anyway." He said, shooting Marie a wink which made her roll her eyes.

The hearing turned out to be a slightly public debate on whether Nishu should still be allowed into the Federation. They took Marie's professional statement as the social worker on the team and Jim had to say it was done very well; professionally Marie thought Nishu wasn't quite ready to join the Federation if half of the planet was willing to Kidnap Captain Kirk as a bargaining chip. Personally, and she did state as much, she would be happy if Nishu was never admitted to the Federation.

"Seconded." Jim said loudly from the table. The hearing committee nodded before asking his professional opinion as well. His reflected Marie's; there was too much turmoil on the planet for them to be brought into the Federation just yet. There were members of the Nishu high council that stated the opposing parties numbers were far slighter than originally conveyed, however they seemed to have a substantial influence if they could kidnap two Federation employees in what passed for broad daylight there.

As they walked out, Nathan had a hand on Marie's back asking her a question to which she nodded. Jim hesitated. He wanted to take her dinner, or a walk or a drink; just be with her in the light for a bit. But he wasn't stupid. She was heading back to Earth to continue working and he was going in the opposite direction into Space for another three years.

"Jim?" Bones asked, an eyebrow raised with a question: you coming? Jim nodded, slowly starting to follow the crowd out of the room. Marie was leaning against the other side of the hallway, no cousin in sight. "I'll see you on the ship. We leave tomorrow." He reminded him, his drawl dry and sarcastic. Without saying anything Jim sauntered over to Marie.

"Tomorrow huh?" She asked.

"Yeah. How about you?" He asked, hoping there wasn't too much desperation in his voice. Her eyes locked with his, green scanning his blues ones as a slight smirk pulled at her lips.

"Committee leaves in two days." He nodded to cover his release of breath.

"Two days on a starbase. I don't envy that." He said, lamely. "Do you want to..." Then he caught himself. This wasn't some dumb drunk woman who would hook up with him one night believing his wild tails of adventure no matter how true they were. She was someone real. He was going to remember Marie for the rest of his life; she wasn't a one night stand.

"Where you going to say get a drink?" She asked, a twinkle in her eye. "Or a bed?" Her eye brow cocked in challenge.

"Well that consensual statement still stands." He said without thinking, his Kirk Smirk pulling onto his face. She laughed and this time, he got to see it reach her eyes and light up her whole face.

"Good to know." Her eyes locked with his, smiles falling for a moment as they realization of what they went through surged between them. He hadn't realized how important sight was, how connected to someone it made you feel. "One condition on that drink." She said, the twinkle back in her eyes. How much sight told you about someone.

"Name it." He said, taking a step to tower over her. She really was tiny.

"No where that is dark." He let the smirk pull back at his lips as he looked down at his Blindness Buddy.

"Deal."


End file.
